


Escape

by Rikerbabe



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Deception, F/M, Hiding in Plain Sight, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 15:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikerbabe/pseuds/Rikerbabe
Summary: Hannibal is rescued and take to a place by Elizabeth to recover from his injuries, where they plan to leave the country for a safe haven in Europe. Meanwhile, Jack Crawford is on their trail and is vowing to recapture Hannibal and to find the person who helped him escape from the FBI.





	1. Chapter 1

He closed his eyes and remembered holding Will close, and then falling off the cliff into the cold water below. Of course, Will had hit first and then his landing had been soften by the wake that Will had made. The cold water had shocked his system and brought his core temperature down to an almost dangerous level. Hannibal then broke the surface of the water, and tried to find Will but he had sunk down below the waves. Remembering that they would start looking for them, he started to swim for the shore but the pain of his cracked ribs and his damaged shoulder from the bullet slowed him down. He knew that Will had died, perhaps that was for the best. Now Will's tortured soul could at last find the peace it couldn't while he was still alive. Hannibal on the other hand, would have no peace being alive or dead. The authorities would be hunting him down, if and when they discovered the carnage that they had left behind at the cabin.

Hannibal finally reached the shore, and pull himself up the beach wincing in great pain from his ribs and shoulder. He managed to make it to the rocky base of the cliff and leaned against a rock, trying to catch his breath. It hurt to breathe deeply, and his vision sometimes blurred which led him to add a concussion to the list of injuries. Of course, there were also the chance of more internal injuries that slightly bothered him. How he would make it back up to the top of the cliff was a much more pressing matter. Hannibal glanced again out on the water, trying to see if Will's body had risen to the surface. After watching the surface for perhaps a half hour, he gave up and clenched his eyes closed. The sharp stab of pain that went through him wasn't from his injuries, but from the fact that he had lost his "twin" as it were. He had actually **_felt_** something for Will. What that might have been, he didn't know. Love? Desire? Now, he would never know if somehow Will have felt anything for him.

Perhaps he would just stay here, and they would find his body here on the beach. Suddenly, there came a sound which could only come from a person scrambling down the rocky path from the top. He gently moved behind the rock to avoid whoever it was, and saw Elizabeth running onto the beach. She was glancing up and down the beach, her movements frenzied. "Hannibal! Hannibal!" She screamed into the night air, her eyes scanning the water. Elizabeth's hair was unbound and flying free in the gusts of wind that threw her voice back at her. "My beloved..." He whispered as a gust of wind died down. Elizabeth somehow had heard the whisper and turned around, stumbling towards his hiding place her eyes full of tears. "Hannibal....oh dear god...I found you..." She murmured as she reached out to touch his cheek. Taking note of his condition, she whispered softly "I can help you up the path and get you to a safe house. I'll take a look at your injuries there, beloved." Slipping an arm around him, she guided him up the rocky path and towards her car. Opening the door, she helped him in, being careful of his shoulder and ribs. Glancing around, she shut the car door and went around and got in. Starting the car, she took a different way back to the place she had in mind thereby avoiding the police roadblocks that were being set up. 

A sharp gasp made her glance at Hannibal, who was grimacing in pain from the cracked ribs and hurt shoulder. "Almost there, my darling. Hang on a little more." She said, driving down a near deserted road as a stream of police cars came screaming by. They didn't notice the passenger in her car, and she was relieved to find that they kept on going towards the cabin that was in the far distance behind them. Slowing the car, she turned onto a dusty road that lead to a rather large house on the hill above. It has been her grandmother's house when she was still alive and now it was Elizabeth's. It would be a safe place to take care of Hannibal and plan their escape from Maryland to wherever he thought would be safe for them. Pulling around the back of the house, she parked the car and got out. The breeze was picking up, meaning that there was a storm coming in from the Atlantic and she had to get him inside quickly. She came around the car and helped him out, carefully as not to further cause him any more pain. The wind tossed his hair a bit and she knew that the rain would be coming soon. It had taken her all day to stock the house with food and the medicines that she thought they would need. Leading him into the house, she reached out and turned the lights on in the living room bathing the room in a soft light. Hannibal painfully went over to the couch and sat, pain shooting up his back and making him grunt softly. Elizabeth locked the door behind her and found the kit she had prepared, bringing it into the room.

"Here, let me see your shoulder." Hannibal allowed her to unbutton the once fine silk shirt and revealed the ugly wound. She gently cleaned the area with peroxide, as his eyes were focused elsewhere. Then she carefully check the wound and digging into the kit, brought out a pair of forceps to remove the bullet. "This is going to hurt, so hold still as best as you can." Quickly she kissed him and proceeded to remove the offending bullet. He gritted his teeth as she had to dig for it, a new trickle of blood going down his shoulder onto his chest. Finally, she pulled it out and Hannibal almost blacked out from the pain. She cleaned up the blood and bandaged the shoulder. "Now, for the ribs. I'll have to wrap them and it will hurt. I'll give you something for the pain before I do that." She dug again into the kit and removed a syringe and several vials of pain killers and antibiotics. Hannibal was pale, and reaching up she wipe his face with a square of gauze as he tried not to black out from the pain of his shoulder and ribs. Elizabeth wiped the top of the first vial of the painkiller and filled the syringe with almost 100 cc , hoping that would ease his agony. "Something for the pain...then I'll give you some of the antibiotic. Once I get your ribs wrapped, you can lay down for a while. No one will find us here, Hannibal. You can recover and we can make our plans in safety." She gently inserted the needle in his arm, and soon he felt the warmth of the drugs in his body. Hannibal relaxed and she began the process of wrapping his battered, cracked ribs. Her eyes were full of tears as she wrapped him, and she tried not to allow them to flow down her cheeks. It was a miracle that even he had survived the fall from the cliff. What Will had thought, no one would ever know and to Elizabeth it was best that she didn't know what was going through his mind. Perhaps it was an act of mercy, a means to end both of their sufferings. Elizabeth would never be able to ask Will if he thought Hannibal had deserved such a fate.

Outside, the rain began to pelt the house in violent drops as she secured the last of the strips around his ribcage. Hannibal was feeling the full effect of the painkiller, and she helped him into the bedroom. He leaned against her as she slowly helped him to sit on the bed and she removed the bloodied shirt. Helping him undress, she saw the bruises and the old scars from when Tobias had stabbed him in the thigh. Gently she traced the scars and tears formed in her eyes as she remembered him telling her about the attack. "My love....do not cry..you know how it breaks my heart to see you cry." He whispered in the gathering darkness of the room, the flashes of lightening illuminating the windows. She nodded and looked into his eyes, seeing the love that he had for her in those dark, haunted eyes. Very few people could even imagine that somewhere in his twisted, dark soul he could feel love. But she had always seen that in him, and it gave her comfort. Pulling down the sheet and comforter, she helped him lay down and covered him up. He reached out and held her hand in his, his eyes growing heavy from the pain medicine. "Sleep beside me, Elizabeth. I require your warmth this night.." Elizabeth nodded and smiled. "I will, my love. Let me clean up the living room and I'll return to your side." He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, now fully under the drugs and free of the pain. She quickly cleaned up the living room, making sure to conceal the bloody dressings and other stuff in the garbage. Turning off the lights, she made her way to the bedroom and her beloved Hannibal. Slipping her clothes off, she gently climbed into the bed and snuggled next to him laying a gentle hand on his chest. Soon she was asleep as well, dreaming of a new life somewhere with him safe and sound.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal and Elizabeth wake to find the storm still raging and they start to discuss plans to escape to Europe and relative safety from Jack Crawford. Jack is summoned to the beach where he finds someone has survived the fall from the cliff.

They never found Will's body, even though they scoured the most probable area where he might have fallen in and where the current might have taken it. Jack Crawford knew in his gut that Hannibal had survived, and most likely was injured. To him, that was that made it even more urgent to find him and put him back where he belonged namely the Baltimore State Hospital for The Criminally Insane. However Jack realized that Will had broken him out of the protective van, and had killed the team transporting both him and Hannibal plus the two police officers accompanying them. That part of the nightmare he couldn't pin on Hannibal entirely, being that he only helped Will free him and didn't do it on his own. One of the police detectives called out to him and Jack jogged slightly to the area where the man waited. "Someone came out of the water here and went up, there. If it's the one your looking for, he's hurt and bleeding. He bled pretty good here on the sand." Jack nodded, his mind formulating possible places where Hannibal could go for any type of medical treatment. "He's a wounded, dangerous animal. Advise your units to remain wary and stay alert. He can and will do anything to remain free." Jack replied, turning back towards the ocean. A crackle of lightening lit the sky up for a few moments as he stared out at the dark, churning water. _Damn you, Will!_ Jack thought, slightly gritting his teeth. _Damn you for releasing Hannibal! When will this nightmare end?_ He continued to stare at the water, wishing it would release it's secrets to him.

A roll of thunder woke Elizabeth and she instinctively checked Hannibal's pulse, finding it steady and stronger. Smiling, she laid there listening to the thunder and the sound of the rain hitting the windows. As a child, that used to lull her back to sleep but to her now it represented a cleansing of the past and the welcome of a better future. Hannibal had come so close to death, and she was his angel as it were to help him recover and seek revenge on those who had wronged him. Sighing softly, she snuggled close to him and laid there awake hearing his soft breathing in the dark. It was a blessing that he hadn't been hurt too badly, and there was no apparent serious internal injuries to contend with. He had struck the water in such a way that it only cracked his ribs and gave him a slight concussion that dulled his vision for a few hours. Will's impact created a "hole" in the water where it cushioned Hannibal's fall thereby making his injuries less severe that what she had imagined. She had shadowed the trial, his incarceration at the State Hospital and even worked there as one of the nurses. That had been her way to stay close to him, in case he needed something from the outside world. Elizabeth had slipped him forbidden foods she knew he loved, and even some of his music she smuggled to him, even though Alana Bloom had stated that Hannibal would have no creature comforts while he served his multiple life sentences there. But Elizabeth had defied those orders, and Alana had no way of finding out who had slipped him those things. By falsifying the records and bribing certain others who detested Bloom, Elizabeth had been able to slip everything into the hospital for him.

A low murmur from Hannibal brought her thoughts back to the present. "Are you in pain,Hannibal?" She whispered in the dark, thinking of what she would need. "No, beloved. A stray thought or two crossed my mind. It is nearly dawn, and yet the storm doesn't seem to want to abate soon." Came his reply as a flash of lighting illuminated the room for a moment or two. "Yes, it will help distract those who want to find you again. They won't be able to search effectively with the storm in the area, and it will help conceal where I brought you." Elizabeth quietly said, her hand placed protectively over his heart. He reached up and gently held her hand there, feeling the warmth and softness of her skin. Hannibal thought of the various places that they could run to, and the logistics of planning such a trip. "We need to leave here in a day or two, even if my injuries haven't healed enough. They will be looking for both of us and I wish to remain several days ahead of them. It is not my desire to return to the confinement that they have for me in that place ever again." Elizabeth remained quiet for a moment, as if the roll of thunder outside agreed with Hannibal's vow. "Where shall we go, beloved? They will have people watching at the airport and alerts out all along the coast for you." Hannibal remained silent for a moment and she thought he had gone back to sleep again. "I have made prior arrangements for such an occasion. In the safe behind the photo of your Grandmother, there are two passports for us made out from Denmark. The names are Hans and Rachael Hess. I trust you've kept up with your languages?" He said, thinking a bit more clearly now. She laughed quietly, and rose up on her elbow to smile at him.

"Har du holdt op med din?" She asked him, as he gently smiled. "Ja, min elskede" Came his soft reply, as he reached up to stroke her cheek. He then slipped his other arm up on her back and drew her close to him. Pulling her down, he kissed her as the thunder and lightning seemed to increase in intensity to their kiss. She was concerned that he would re injure his ribs, but he was being careful as he could. The thunder and lightning provided a sensuous background to their abbreviated lovemaking as they anticipated the dawn to come. As they awaited what the day would bring, Jack Crawford woke from a hellish sleep. He tossed and turned all night, as he tried to find some sliver of rest. Will's actions hadn't ended the nightmare that was Hannibal Lecter, but only compounded it. Jack had thought that once Lecter was incarcerated for the rest of his natural life, he would be able to retire and not worry about the Chesapeake Ripper anymore. Now he had to not only recapture Lecter, but to find the one who had helped him from the beach. His first thought was to scour the hospitals and the ER clinics that were not far from here, and then work on the larger cities within a hundred mile radius of the area. _Someone has to have seen either him or his accomplice. There's no where Hannibal can run now._ Jack thought, sitting on the edge of the bed. But something in the back of his mind reminded him  not to underestimate Hannibal in the least. _He's crafty and smart. If I was him, on the run what would I do?_ Jack reached for his cell phone and called the local police station, asking about any houses or such along the beach area. After being told that there was no house within the five mile radius, he gave up on that line of reasoning and sighed. "Lecter..you are one clever son of a bitch..But I'll catch you, make no mistake. You will be caught..you and your help." He said quietly as a severe clap of thunder sounded outside the window.

Hannibal and Elizabeth rose from their bed and she helped him dress for breakfast. His ribs were still sore, but he didn't complain too much when she guided him down the short hallway to the kitchen. After turning the lights on, he sat at the kitchen island and watched her prepare their breakfast of eggs, several sausages, toast and coffee. Elizabeth had the same cooking flair that he did, but she wasn't too concerned about that at the moment. "Once your ribs have healed fully, you can cook again. I'm hoping that will be somewhere in Europe and not in South America, like you wanted to go there." He smiled, remembering how he told her that South America could offer them protection but the situation in Argentina was not something he wanted to experience first hand. The government there was extraditing back criminals who had fled there for the past twenty or so years. Hannibal had no inclination that he wanted to be part of that mass exodus back to the States for any reason. "Denmark might be the best place..it's close to every thing that we may need or require. Lithuania is not far from Copenhagen, and I do have some friends there that will help us. But you must stay alert, Elizabeth. Promise me that you will..I would hate to have you in any sort of trouble while we are there." Elizabeth nodded as she placed their plates on the counter and brought their coffee over. Filling the two cups, she was thinking of the logistics getting there and remaining invisible to the authorities and the US government. 

They ate quietly, the sound of thunder very faint in the distance. The storm hadn't discharged it's fury, and that would aid them in leaving the area and making their way to safety in Denmark. Jack Crawford wouldn't find the house until they had long left, which would add to his desperation. Finishing up, she took the plates to the dishwasher and loaded it, wanting to leave the house as if no one had been there for a while. Her family did use it from time to time and after they left, her mother would be having her friends from college up here for a weekend getaway. That would offer them proper protection from being detected by anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack Crawford is called to the morgue where he identified Will and must call Molly to inform her that he's dead. He starts to undergo a change of heart concerning Hannibal.

Jack went back down to the beach as soon as it was light enough. The rain and wind made his investigation that much more difficult, since all traces of blood and footprints had been either washed away or severely compromised. He gritted his teeth and scanned the water, as if there would be a clue on the waves. The wind whipped up the whitecaps and a few seabirds brave enough to fly screeched as he walked along the waterline to where they had spied blood on the sand. But that had been washed away from the sand, and Jack wondered if it had been Will who had survived and was laying low until he could contact both Jack and the FBI. A shrill sound from Jack's phone interrupted his thoughts and after he answered it, he was more determined to find whoever had helped Hannibal or whoever from the beach. The lead detective had called to say that a man's body had washed up some six miles away from the beach and it had been tentatively identified as Will Graham. Jack told him that he would be down to the morgue to identify the body and to help contact the next of kin. Now that he knew Will was probably dead, it further drove him to find Hannibal and get him back to the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He owed it not only to Will, but to the others that Hannibal had killed over the years and even perhaps decades before he was caught. But who would help him escape from all of this? That was another nagging question that may or may not be easy to answer. 

The drive to the morgue was silent, the storm keeping most people inside and off the streets. The place itself was in a old, gray building with the outside paint peeling in certain places. He parked and went inside, showing his FBI identification to a young woman at the desk and being directed down the corridor on the left to the main room. Jack paused at the double doors, not really wanting to see Will lying there on the exam table. Taking a deep breath, he pushed one of the doors open and went inside. The lighting wasn't very good, and in the corner a light flickered almost going out. The Medical Examiner was there with two of his assistants and at his nod, one of them opened the small door to the drawer and pulled it out with Will's body on it. Jack gave him a glance and nodded at the ME. "That's Will Graham..one of my profilers. He and another man, Dr. Hannibal Lecter went over a cliff's edge. Was there another body discovered with his?" The ME shook his head at Jack's question. "No, just this one. If the other one is still out there, the storm will drive it either out to sea or even further along the beach." "Thanks, Doc. I've got his wife's phone number and address. If you want, I can call her for you. She's wanting to know if Will's still alive." Jack said, once more staring at Will's body. _Damn, Will. Why did you pull yourself over the edge with Hannibal?_ He thought, turning around to leave the morgue. The call to Will's wife would be a hard thing, but Crawford was used to such difficult things as of late. She needed to know that Will was finally at peace, and that he didn't seemed to have suffered at the end.

Jack stepped outside and took a deep breath, angry at himself for allowing Will so much access to Hannibal and allowing him to take Hannibal out of the State Hospital for this one last act. He knew that Francis would have kept on killing if they hadn't stopped him, but the price at the end was too high for Jack's taste. He grudgingly acknowledged that without Hannibal's help, the killings wouldn't have stopped but continued for many more bloody months. A part of Jack also mourned Hannibal's probable loss as well, even though he had turned out to be the Chesapeake Ripper. Something inside him knew that Hannibal was out there, somewhere and Jack would find him. Personally he would rather let him go, than waste the hours trying to find his whereabouts. The FBI however, wanted him recaptured no matter what the cost would be. That aggravated Jack, knowing that Hannibal could be just about anywhere now. It also struck Jack that he may try to leave the US for another place, perhaps Lithuania. Walking back to his car, he pulled out his phone and told the police chief to check the local regional airports for anyone matching the description of Hannibal. Jack drove back to his hotel, trying to think of a way to tell Molly that Will was dead. If he had paid any attention to the road that he passed, he would have found the house where Hannibal and Elizabeth were staying at for the time being while Hannibal recovered from his injuries.

Getting back to the hotel his phone rang with a call from the from the chief, saying that there was no one matching the description of Lecter ever being seen. There would be someone watching the airport for the next twenty four hours, but after that time there wouldn't be anyone to watch. Crawford thanked the chief and rang off, still trying to form what he would say to Molly once he was able to get her on the phone. She didn't want Will back out in the field, like Alana but Jack told her that there was no other one who could help catch Francis and end the Tooth Fairy crime spree. He made a mental note to call about Alana, and she how she was doing. Whoever attacked her at the hospital knew what he or she was doing and managed to break Alana's back. The doctors had said that she would be paralysed from the waist down, a paraplegic for the rest of her life. Jack's eyes burned with anger as he thought about Alana and Molly, both having to deal with the after effects of Hannibal still. He glanced down at his phone and dialed Molly's number, wishing that his phone call would have been telling her that he was alive and coming home. But it wasn't the type of call that he wanted to make to her and it made him even more determined to find Hannibal and his help, and bring them to justice for what they had done.

"Molly? Hi, it's Jack...Listen, I have bad news..yes, he's dead Molly. No...he took Hannibal over the cliff with him. I don't know, Molly..yes, we haven't found Lecter's body yet. I have people looking for...Yes, I understand Molly but....No...I'll accompany him back home to you. Is there someone there with you right now? I understand, Molly. No, it's no problem..Yes, he was my friend too. I'll call the morgue in the morning...I'll get everything settled here, OK? Call me if you need anything, alright? 'bye Molly." Jack took a deep breath after he hung up and resisted the urge to punch the wall, angry that Hannibal had managed to slip away once again and leave death in his wake. "I will find you, Hannibal. Mark my words..I will find you even if I have to go to the depths of Hell to bring you back for justice." He said, the bitterness evident in his voice. "Oh, I promise you...I will find you, make no mistake about it." But a part of him somehow knew that Hannibal wouldn't be so easy to catch this time. He would make sure that Jack and the rest of the FBI would never find him again. Jack went over to the window and stood there, watching the dark clouds and the brief flashes of lightning. He wondered if all of this was a nightmare and that he would wake up, finding that all of the years had been a fantasy of his overworked mind. But there was a nagging feeling that he had overlooked something, perhaps back at the beach. The rain and the high waves would have erased any indication of someone else on that part of the shore, where Hannibal perhaps had came out of the water.

Jack took a deep breath and slipped his phone out of his pocket, intending to call the police chief again and tell him to get someone down to that spot on the beach. He hesitated, not really sure why but shaking his head slightly, he replace the phone in his pocket and continued to watch the lightning play from his hotel room. Jack was bone tired from chasing both Will and Hannibal, of having to find death and destruction left in their wake. All he wanted now was closure, both for him and also for Will along with Hannibal. He just wanted to close the case file on the Chesapeake Ripper and the unstable profiler. A part of Jack considered allowing Hannibal to escape, being that there was nothing left for him here in Maryland or in the United States. "Let him be someone else's problem..I've had enough of him.." Jack quietly said, turning away from the window and sitting on the edge of the bed. "There's nothing that he can do to anyone, anymore. Will was his golden ticket...goddam it..." He rubbed his face with his hand, and sighed. "I've had enough of you, Dr. Lecter. Fly to where you can't hurt anyone here, anymore."


End file.
